ANTALYA, TR – The qualification rounds at the first stage of the 2023 World Cup in Antalya has concluded, with five Canadian archers taking part in the competition. The day was warm with some tricky winds, providing an extra challenge in the first international outdoor competition of the year.

Eric Peters earned the highest spot of the Canadians at the event in Turkey, landing 17th and shooting a final score of 665. His first match, as part of 1/64 eliminations, was against Leo Sulik from Croatia, who ranked 112th in qualification rounds. Peters walked away with the win, defeating Sulik 7-3. His next opponent will be Jesus Flores (MEX) in the 1/32 elimination rounds. Devaang Gupta landed just outside of the top 30, ending up in 32nd place with a score of 659. Miha Rozic (SLO) was his first opponent in the elimination rounds. The match was incredibly close, with the winner being decided by tiebreaker. While both Gupta and Rozic shot a 9, Rozic’s arrow was closer and therefore, Gupta does not advance in the competition. 

Andrew Azores’ seventy-two arrows resulted in a final score of 647 and a placing of 67th. Azores also faced a Slovenian archer in his first match, shooting against Den Habjan Malavasic. He did not have an end that scored less than 27 in his match, which helped him advance to the next round, beating Habjan Malavasic 6-2. Azores will now face Zhongyuan Li of China, who placed 3rd in qualifications, in the 1/32 elimination round. Andrew Smollett, the fourth member of the Canadian’s men’s team in Antalya, placed 104th and scored 632 points by the end of qualifications. Smollett went up against the Frenchman Jean-Charles Valladont in his first round, who ranked 25th after qualifiers. Smollett did manage to win one end and tie another, but he was unable to overcome Valladont and dropped the match 3-7.

Stephanie Barrett, the sole Canadian woman at this event, concluded her qualification round in 89th and scored 611. She then shot against 40th-ranked Ligan Hai of China in the 1/64 elimination round. Barrett won the match, defeating Hai with a score of 6-2. Her second match will be against Chien-Ying Lei (TPE), who was ranked 25th after qualifications. 

On the team side of the competition, Peters, Gupta, and Azores were the three highest-scoring Canadian male archers and so will make up the group moving forward in the team event. Their combined score of 1971 landed them in 11th place out of twenty-four teams that moved on. First thing tomorrow morning local time, they will face the 22nd-ranked team from Uzbekistan. The mixed team, which would be composed of Peters and Barrett, landed in 29th with a score of 1276. They will not be moving onto the competition bracket. 

“Today was a pretty good day,” says Ron Van der Hoff, Interim National Coach for Archery Canada. “Devaang and Eric were shooting very well, taking initiative and making sure to shoot on their terms. Andrew [Smollett] had a bit of a challenge today because he’s the least experienced of the guys. He just needs more experience and he will grow into the season. AJ [Andrew Azores] did remarkably well today. Stephanie had a bit of a choppy 720, made some mistakes, then her 1/64 round was really good. So we’re looking good overall.”

Tomorrow, the competition moves on to the recurve team portion of the competition, followed by individual matches, starting with the 1/32 elimination rounds, on Friday. If Canadian teams or individuals make it to the medal rounds, they’ll be in action on Sunday, when all recurve finals take place. 

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For more information, please contact:

Zoe Meil, Communications & Safe Sport Coordinator

zmeil@archerycanada.ca

(613) 260-2113 ext. 3